Alleyways
Glenn Lewis
February 1st, 2019
Glenn Lewis “Alleyways”
Back alleys in a city’s downtown are, in some ways, a major, but hidden, forbidden or secret part of the city. They are also the most unknown, ordinary, even squalid parts. Up until fairly recently downtown back alleys generally have been seen on the same level as slums, as a place for garbage, service installation, drug-dealing, other criminal activity, the homeless, and a lot of graffiti. Alleys are part of the public space in a city, but unlike parks, plazas and streets, they were not intended or used for public gathering, although they have played an important escape route in demonstrations and uprisings, such as in Paris.
Graffiti is prominent in alleyways, and display different motivations. Some are inscribed as protest, others leave a “tag” (a kind of signature) of the author, some are signs of particular gangs, and I think some are simply human, giving free reign to the author’s feelings – another expression of popular culture, but an anti-capitalist one. Indeed, graffiti besmirches capitalist enterprises, especially on the backside of their buildings. Curiously, the owners paint over the graffiti leaving multi-coloured patches, not having the same colour of the building. As a result, rather than the calligraphic style of most graffiti, the owners create their own patchwork graffiti, Some graffiti and their authors have become famous and are accepted as art, such as Banksy. The whole question of graffiti and its acceptance obviously needs to be revisited.
There is a movement in major cities to gentrify the alleyway into planned laneways that are designed rather than organically realized. In doing so we may be losing one of the few spaces where artistic expression is not regulated or commodified.
Back alleys in a city’s downtown are, in some ways, a major, but hidden, forbidden or secret part of the city. They are also the most unknown, ordinary, even squalid parts. Up until fairly recently downtown back alleys generally have been seen on the same level as slums, as a place for garbage, service installation, drug-dealing, other criminal activity, the homeless, and a lot of graffiti. Alleys are part of the public space in a city, but unlike parks, plazas and streets, they were not intended or used for public gathering, although they have played an important escape route in demonstrations and uprisings, such as in Paris.
Graffiti is prominent in alleyways, and display different motivations. Some are inscribed as protest, others leave a “tag” (a kind of signature) of the author, some are signs of particular gangs, and I think some are simply human, giving free reign to the author’s feelings – another expression of popular culture, but an anti-capitalist one. Indeed, graffiti besmirches capitalist enterprises, especially on the backside of their buildings. Curiously, the owners paint over the graffiti leaving multi-coloured patches, not having the same colour of the building. As a result, rather than the calligraphic style of most graffiti, the owners create their own patchwork graffiti, Some graffiti and their authors have become famous and are accepted as art, such as Banksy. The whole question of graffiti and its acceptance obviously needs to be revisited.
There is a movement in major cities to gentrify the alleyway into planned laneways that are designed rather than organically realized. In doing so we may be losing one of the few spaces where artistic expression is not regulated or commodified.